The Royal Canadian Air Force has quietly turned to an unusual source for spare parts to keep its venerable search-and-rescue airplanes flying: a museum.

The Citizen has learned that, in July 2012, air force technicians raided an old Hercules airplane that is on display at the National Air Force Museum of Canada because they needed navigational equipment for a similar aircraft still in use.

The revelation highlights the difficulties military personnel have increasingly faced in keeping Canada’s ancient search-and-rescue planes flying after more than a decade of government promises to buy replacements — with no end in sight.

The air force museum is on Canadian Forces Base Trenton and boasts a large collection of military aircraft that have been retired and subsequently placed on display.

Among them is an E-model C-130 Hercules transport aircraft that entered service in 1965 and was used in a variety of roles before being retired in 2010 and given to the museum the following year.

Museum curator Kevin Windsor said classified equipment is typically taken off the display aircraft, but otherwise the museum tries to keep the aircraft as close to operational as possible to give visitors an authentic experience.

It was during his Windsor’s second week on the job that the search-and-rescue squadron at CFB Trenton contacted the museum’s executive director, retired lieutenant-colonel Chris Colton, to see if they could go through the Hercules.

A CC-130J Hercules aircraft sits on the tarmac at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton on June 4, 2010. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrien Veczan)

In particular, Windsor said, they were looking for two inertial navigation units that they could take from the museum’s airplane and install in one of their H-model Hercules, which range in age from 20 to 40 years.

“They sort of called (Colton) up and said ‘Hey, we have these two INUs that we can’t use. Do you have any on yours?’ ” Windsor said. “Some of the parts are interchangeable. They just kind of got lucky on that.”

The INUs work in conjunction with two GPS units to provide the Hercules’s main navigation system, RCAF Capt. Julie Brunet said in an email. “These high value and essential systems allow long non-stop flights to be able to provide better response time to any search-and-rescue mission.”

Once air force technicians confirmed the museum’s Hercules still had its navigational units, it only took about half an hour to get them out.

The RCAF took the initiative to remove these functional, perfectly good parts and use them effectively

“They’re two boxes, maybe a little bit smaller than a computer printer,” Windsor said. “They’re not huge things. They just sort of popped the cords and away they went.”

Auditor General Michael Ferguson raised concerns last spring that the federal government’s search-and-rescue capabilities are in danger of crumbling, in part because the air force’s eight Hercules and six Buffaloes are on their last wings.

The airplanes are used to respond to thousands of emergencies across the country every year.

Defence Department officials were also told in a secret briefing last year that the military had been forced to “purchase spare parts from around the world” to ensure the “continued airworthiness” of the air force’s 47-year-old Buffalo airplanes.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson’s office defended the air force’s decision to ask a museum for parts to keep its search-and-rescue planes flying.

“The RCAF took the initiative to remove these functional, perfectly good parts and use them effectively,” spokeswoman Johanna Quinney said in an email. “It was a sound decision, helping to ensure the long-term viability of the aircraft.”

But former head of military procurement Dan Ross said it’s “embarrassing” that the air force has to “cannibalize old stuff that’s in museums” to keep its planes flying.

And retired colonel Terry Chester, national president of the Air Force Association of Canada said it’s “indicative of a larger problem, which is maintaining a fleet of older aircraft and having to become increasingly creative in ways to make that happen.”

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg)

Officials were warned back in February 2012 that spending extra money to extend the lives of the Hercules still being used for search-and-rescue “is an evil necessity” because of delays in obtaining replacements, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.

Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have promised to replace the Hercules and Buffalos starting in 2002, but it remains unclear when new aircraft will actually materialize.

In 2005, the Defence Department was accused by some companies of rigging requirements for the new search-and-rescue airplane so that one specific aircraft, the Italian C-27J Spartan, would win. That prompted the new Conservative government to send the project back to the drawing board.

More recently, internal documents show, military officials had hoped to release a request for proposals from aerospace companies in early 2013, with new aircraft flying by 2017.

Instead, the Conservative government has ordered extensive consultations with industry as part of its revamped defence procurement strategy. While the government says this is essential for getting the purchase right, it has also pushed back the timeline yet again.

Public Works spokeswoman Annie Trepanier said in an email Friday that the government now hopes to release a request for proposals either later this year or in early 2015.

That would likely mean no replacement until at least 2018, during which time the Hercules and Buffalo will need to remain in service.